Shoe.



IVI. BROCK.

SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 14. |913.

Lmlm Bateman@ 1, 1915.

srarns IVIATTHIAS BROCK, OF BQSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, SSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE I' MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATEBSON, NET/V JERSEY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY.

suon

Patented aan@ 1, 191s.

Continuation of application Serial No. 706,655, filed June 29, 1912. This application filed November 14,

T0 all whom t may conce/1m Be it known that l, MATTHIAS BROCK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massacl'iusetts, have invented certain Tmprovements in bhoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the `drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to boots and shoes and particularly to stiffeners used in the manufacture thereof.

The invention is of particular utility as applied to heel stiffeners and will therefore be described with reference to such use.

In assembling upon a last the different parts of a shoe including a-heel stiffener, a tack is usually driven through the shoe materials into the last at the rear end face of the shoe so as to fix the relation of these portions of the materials to the height of the last, and another tack is driven throughl the upper and stifener into the innersole at the extreme rear end of the shoe bottom. Nothing, however, is done until a later stagein the manufacture of the shoe to fasten in position the free end portions or wings of the stiffener, and it is usually found, after the pulling-over operation, that these wings have been depressed and that it is necessary to pull them up into proper relation to the last bottom preparatory to the heel seat lasting operation. Une reason for this condi.

tion is that the heel end face of the presentday last is vertically curved and the sides of the last are shaped to cause the shoe to hug closely the ball of the heel of the wearers foot, particularly in the case of an Oxford shoe, and manipulation of the marginal edge of the upper in the assembling andy pulling over operations tends to cause the upper and the stiifener to hug the rear end face of the last more especially at that portion adjacent to the heel seat, as pointed out, for example, in United States Patent No. 855,831, granted to Emery Bayard, June 4, 1907. There is a tendency, therefore, for other portions of the stifl'ener at the rear end to stand somewhat away from the last and for the wings to swing downwardly or be depressed from their proper position with reference to the last bottom. It is consequently necessary as a step preparatory to heel seat lasting or as Serial No. 800,970.

a part of the lasting operation to pull up the stifiener wings, and this operation is especially troublesome by reason of the fact that the wings in their depressed position are located between the upper and the shoe lining, which have been pulled tight in a forward direction, and are therefore, difficult to reach or to grasp firmly enough to pull them up as required. This operation is usually performed by the use of hand pincers, and it is found that if the wings are provided with inturned flanges which have been given a particular shape to cause them to fit the feather and lip of a welt innersole, as heretofore proposed, such use of pincers tends seriously to distort the flanges from their true shape so that the shoe materials will not fit the last as closely as desired.

In the manufacture of the better grades of slices, including most welt shoes, a straight heel stidener, c'. e., one the ange of which has not been molded in to lie over the heel seat of the shoe, is preferred, because such a stiffener is conformed during the lasting operation to the definite shape of the heel of the last on which it is used and is of course more certain to give to the shoe the Vform which the pattern and last designer intended the shoe to have. In turn shoes hanged heel stilfeners cannot be used because the shoe is turned inside out subsequent to the insertion of the stiifener. The wings of unlanged stiffeners, however, have a greater tendency to swing downward than do the wings of flanged stifleners because the inwardly bent flange retards downward movement of the wings between the upper and the lining.

This invention has for an object to provide a heel stiffener which shall have substantially all the advantages of a straight stiffener as above defined, and which shall have at the same time the further advantage that its wings will not swing downwardly between the upper and the lining more than, if as much as, the wings of flanged stilfeners of the'usual form. This object is accomplished by leaving unmolded and substantially in the vertical plane of the body of the stiifener that portion of the stifl'ener which is to constitute the flange overlying the heel seat of the shoe, and molding into an inturned flange of any' desired shape that marginal portion of the wings which is to be located at the bottom ofthe `0f the stiener during the molding operation, while the margin is left to be shaped precisely to the edge of the last during the shoe lasting operation. With the object of avoiding injury to thev stiener through the use of hand pincers, VI may also incorporate therein features of my prior invention disclosed in application Serial No. 787,874, filed Sept. 3, 1918,v which includes the provision of pulling members on the wings of heel stilfeners, thereby providing a form of stifener having the retaining features above noted together with extended portions, such as disclosed broadly in my prior application, which are located and shaped to serve as pulling members to facilitate the positioning of the wings without the danger hitherto encountered of bending the stiffener flange. i

To the ends above set forth the invention comprises, in its preferred embodiment, a substantially straight stiffener with or without pulling up extensions onthat edge of its wings which isto be located at the bottom of the shoe, which extensions if used, togetherwith adjacent portions of the margin of the blank, are shaped by molding to include an inturned innersole feather flange and an upstanding lip between which and the flange there is an abrupt bend to fit the angle between the feather' and the lip of the innersole and facilitate sewing the inseam-close to the base of the innersole lip. The inturned feather flange retards andreduces the extent to which the wing of an otherwise unfianged stiffener will go down between the upper and the lining. rThe upturned lip, lparticularly if it includes the pulling up extension of they stiffener blank, usually stands high enough to be seized conveniently by the operators hand pincers and, if provided with the pulling up extension, is of such vertical extent or height, that a firm hold of the stiffener wing can be obtained with the hand pincers without grasping and more or less crushing out the shape of the feather flange, as was unavoidable in using prior molded heel stieners because the lips, when there were any, were only .of 'the feather cf the welt innersole With vthe inseam due to the pulling up extension may, of course, be ycut o inthe inseam trimymingvoperation. rhe stiffener will thus have important advantages, particularlyV as contributing to high grade heel seat lasting for which straight heel stiffeners are generally used, and also to the formation of a tight and properlyy located welt attachingy seam, and, by reason of the height of the extensions on its lips the stiffener will be shaped also to facilitate the proper positioning of the stiffener wings without liability of distorting materially the molded portions of the stiffener.

This kapplication is'to be regarded, further, as a continuation of my earlier and copending application for patent on improvements in lasting machines, Ser. No. 7 06,655, filed June 29, 1912, in so far as relates to subject matter commento the two applications.k o

The invention will kbe understood moreV readily by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which--y o Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of heel stiffener embodying the invention, Fig. 2 shows the stiffener of Fig. 1 partially molded to the shape of the heel portion Vof a shoe, Fig. 3 illustrates the use of the stiffener in the manufacture of a welt shoe. j

The stiifener as a whole, which is desiglnated'by thefnumeral 2, may either have the simpleuncurved form illustrated in Fig. 1 or may be molded into some suitable heel shape as, forV example, that shown in Fig. 2 prior to its use in the assembling operation. The upper portion of the stifi'ener, as kviewed in these figures, is that portion which will be located at or adjacent to the bottom of the assembled shoe, and it will be understood that the two opposite end portions of the stiifener constitute the wings which will extend forwardly along the heel into the shank. The stiifener presents an edge 4 of regular contour of a length to extend from the rear of the heel substantially to the heel breast location on each side and is shaped to provide for the formation during the lasting operation of an inturned ange of substantially uniform width to overlie the edges of the heel seat in the lasted shoe, the approximate line on which the stiffener will be turned down to form this flange being indicated by the'dotted line 6 in Fig. 1. Running from the ends of the intermediate edge portion 4 the edge ofthe stiffener is provided with shaped or molded portions each comprising a downturned flange 8y and an upstanding lip 10. The flange 8 is intended to lie upon the feather of a welt innersole and is preferably of a width corresponding to the width of the feather soV that the lip 10 may stand against the innersole rib and facilitate the formation of a tight welt attaching seam by making it easy for the needle of the sewing mechanism to enter the lip and fasten the upper stock in the angle close to the base of the lip. The desired relation of the parts is illustrated in Fig. 3, where the feather and the rib of the innersole are indicated respectively by the numerals l2 and 14. This figure shows the parts of the shoe in their assembled relation, with the stilfener 2 located between the lining 16 and the upper 18 and the upper materials secured temporarily to the innersole at the rear of the heel seat by a tack 20. ln F ig. 3 the stiffener wings are shown as located in their proper position preparatory to the heel seat lasting operation. As already pointed out, however, these wings are usually found, after the pulling-over operation, to be somewhat out of position so that they must be pulled into their proper relation to the innersole. In order to facilitate this operation the lips 10 are, by a feature of the present invention, suitably extended widthwise of the stiifener, i. e., upwardly as the stiener is viewed in the drawings, to constitute pulling members which will project within convenient reach of the operator for pulling the stiffener wings when the inturned flanges 8 do not entirely prevent the wings from getting down between the upper and the lining. As shown in F ig. 1 these lips are formed to include portions of the material of the stiiener which, prior to the molding of the ends, form offsets or extensions of any desired extent from the regular edge portion 4, the dotted lines 22 in this figure indicating the shape of the stilfener ends before the molding of the flanges and lips, a blank substantially of this shape forming the sub- 'ect-matter of my prior application Ser. No.

87,874, previously mentioned. The dotted line 6 which indicates the prospective boundary of the heel seat flange forms, it will be noted, a continuation of the boundary of the flanges 8; and since the width of the flange 8, corresponding to the width of the feather of the innersole, is usually less than the width of the heel seat Hange of the stiffener, it follows that the width of the lip 10 is as great as, or greater than, the width of the oii'set or extension from the edge 4, and that the combined width of the flange 8 and the lip l0 is much greater than the width of that portion of the blank which is to be turned down to form the heel seat iiange. In consequence of this construction the lips 10 are suitably extended to project within convenient reach of the operator when the ends of the stilfener are depressed and to serve as pulling members which may be readily grasped to bring the stiener ends to their proper position. t will be seen also that where pincers are employed an adequate hold can be obtained on the lips lt will be understood that the form and dimensions of the different parts of the sti'ener above described may be suitably varied to conform to different conditions or requirements, and such variations are comprehended within the scope of the invention.

Having described the invention, what l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. A heel stiffener having its edge upright and in substantially the vertical plane of its body portion around the heel seat and molded to present inturned flanges shaped to the feather of the innersole in front of the heel breast.

2. A heel stiflener of substantially straight formation widthwise and having upon its end portions, on the edge which is to be located at the bottom of the shoe, molded flanges shaped to overlie a portion of the innersole.

3. A heel stiffener having, on the edge which is to overlie the innersole in the shoe, molded portions running from the shank ends backwardly a short distance and each comprising an inturned flange and an upstanding lip which terminates at a point remote from that portion of the stiiiener which is to be located at the rear of the heel, said lips including widthwise extensions of said stiffener to constitute pulling members to be engaged for positioning the stifi'ener ends in the lasting operation.

4. A heel stiffener having that portion which is to be located at the bottom of the slice formed with an edge of substantially regular contour of a length to extend around the heel from a position at or near the breast line on one side to a similar position on the other side, and molded portions running from said regular edge portion toward the ends of the stiffener and each comprising an inturned flange and an upstanding lip, said lips forming offsets or extensions from said regular edge portion of the stii'encr to constitute pulling members to be engaged foi` positioning the stiifener ends in the lasting operation.

5. A heel stiffener having on that edge which is to be located at the bottom of the shoe molded portions adjacent to the ends of the stiffener and each comprising an inturned flange of a width to overlie the feather of the innersole and an upstanding lip adapted to stand adjacent to the innersole rib, said lips including widthwise extensions of the stiii'ener Which vterminate at points remote from that portion of the stiener Which is to be located at the rear of the heel and are formed to serve as pulling members to be engaged for positioning thestiffener ends in the lasting operation.

6. A heel stittener having that edge portionivhich is to be located at the bottom of vthe shoe adapted to be turned down to form a flange of substantially uniformV Width overlying the edges of the heel seat forwardly to a point on each side at or adjacent to the heel breasty location, and molded portions adapted to extend forwardly into the shank of the shoe and each comprising an intiirned flange and an upstanding lip, the combined Width of said flange and lip being greater than the Width of that` portion of the blank which is to be turned down to form the flange upon the heel seat.

7 A heel stitfener having formed on one edge adjacent to an end of the stiifener a moldedy portion vcomprising an intiirnedV nainey to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

MATTHIAS BROCK.

Vitnesses:

HOWARD @.VViNs/Low, HAnLoW M. Davis.

Copies of this patent may 'be obtained for iive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0'. 

